MINNEAPOLIS -- For the third year in a row, the NFL's International Series is heading south of the border, and for the first time in three seasons, the game being played in Mexico City won't involve the Raiders. 

During his annual Super Bowl press conference on Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the Rams and Chiefs will be headed to Mexico City in 2018 with the Rams "hosting" the game. Between this announcement and the Alex Smith trade, the Chiefs are clearly doing their best to steal the Super Bowl spotlight from the Patriots and the Eagles. 

The NFL and Mexico City currently have a deal to play games in the capital of Mexico through the 2021 season.

"Over the past two seasons, we have seen the extraordinary passion that exists for NFL football in Mexico," Goodell said. "We are excited for another memorable event at Estadio Azteca as the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs head to Mexico City in 2018."

As part of the terms of their relocation, the Rams agreed to host one international game per season until their new stadium opens in 2020. Over the past two years, that meant playing in a game in London. However, after dealing with the 10-hour flight that comes with traveling from Los Angeles to London in each of the past two seasons, the Rams requested to play their international game in Mexico City in 2018, according to ESPN.com. 

Rams owner Stan Kroenke sounded pretty excited that the league granted the team's request. 

"It is great to be participating in the NFL's international games again and working with the league to grow the game abroad," Kroenke said in a statement. "Mexico has one of the largest NFL fan bases in the world and we are excited to bring Rams football to the millions of fans there."

The game in Mexico will mark the second time the Chiefs have gone south of the border. The team played in a preseason game against the Cowboys in Monterrey back in 1996. Speaking of Monterrey, Goodell was asked on Wednesday if the league might consider giving a regular-season game to a Mexican city that's not Mexico City, and let's just say, it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. 

"We know there's interest in other cities in Mexico, other than Mexico City," Goodell said. "We think that's something we may consider in the future. Right now we have such a great arrangement in Mexico City … that I think we want to continue to build on that."

The game between the Rams and Chiefs will be the fourth regular-season game in NFL history to be played in Mexico City following a Cardinals-49ers game in 2005, a Texans-Raiders game in 2016 and a Patriots-Raiders game in 2017. 

Although the Rams requested to play in Mexico, not every team loves going south of the border. Patriots coach Bill Belichick almost started an international incident when he complained about Mexico after the team's 33-8 win over the Raiders in Week 11. 

"There's a lot to it in terms of all the logistics of it," Belichick said. "They are not used to having a NFL team so you have to go in there and handle a lot of the logistics. It took a lot of man power, a lot of hours, a lot of energy out of our organization to do that. This week, we're tired. We are exhausted from the trip. It was a good trip, but it took a lot out of us I think."

One thing we don't know about the 2018 game is when it will be played. Goodell said the date of the game will be announced along with the rest of the regular season schedule in April.